


Triple-Check

by atohii



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26472625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atohii/pseuds/atohii
Summary: Magnus set the datapad back on his desk, taking a moment to brace himself and invent deeply. He was not going to be overcome with emotion, not now- he had a war to run. Still, unbidden, his processor oh-so-helpfully reminded him of his friendship with Yoketron. Even worse, that time, scarcely a thousand years ago, when Yoketron had shown up at his door- it was a rare time when he’d secured some shore leave, when the Decepticons were on the retreat- with a tiny, visored sparkling in his grip and a note of desperation in his voice as he pleaded for aid and expedition in the adoption process.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Triple-Check

**Author's Note:**

> the working title for this was "jazz baby i'm sorry"

Ultra Magnus had to read the report three times when it first came across his desk. 

It was straightforward enough- a report on an attack on a training campus, he read similar ones three times a week. One line, though, caught his optics again and again, dragging them back with a sharp ache like a knife through protoform. 

Casualties: Yoketron of Iacon 

MIA: Prowl of Petrex [assumed KIA]

Magnus set the datapad back on his desk, taking a moment to brace himself and invent deeply. He was not going to be overcome with emotion, not now- he had a war to run. Still, unbidden, his processor oh-so-helpfully reminded him of his friendship with Yoketron. Even worse, that time, scarcely a thousand years ago, when Yoketron had shown up at his door- it was a rare time when he’d secured some shore leave, when the Decepticons were on the retreat- with a tiny, visored sparkling in his grip and a note of desperation in his voice as he pleaded for aid and expedition in the adoption process. 

Said sparkling who was now a spy directly under Ultra Magnus’s command. 

And, as the saying went, speak of Unicron and he shall appear. 

A notification flashed at the top of the datapad, marked highest priority from SpecOps and medical. Jazz had just checked in from his latest mission, battered and bruised from extraction, and was to be housed in medical until they’d run a full systems check and ensured that he was not experiencing any adverse effects from the newest batch of spy modifications he’d been outfitted with. Normally, he wouldn’t bother checking in on an agent himself until they arrived at his office for debriefing, but it would only be so long until the news of the attack on the dojo had spread around the base.

So it was with a world-weary sigh that Magnus gathered his datapad and his wits, and set off for the medbay. 

The spy, rather than his usual white and blue, was instead a muted gray and purple, a color scheme common among the Decepticons. His digits also now ended in sharp claws, a newer addition that Magnus didn’t remember approving. In typical Jazz fashion, rather than sitting quietly on the berth like most soldiers did, he was sprawled over it, using his magnets- now that was a mod Magnus definitely had not approved- to ever-so-slowly move all of the tools on Pharma’s non-emergent cart to the left. 

Under any other situation, though, the way he jerked upright when he saw Magnus would have been damn near hilarious, one leg very nearly hitting the poor medic in the face while those claws were hidden behind his back. “Sir!” he squawked, visor switching from Decepticon crimson to Autobot blue. Beside him, Pharma cursed and pinned the leg he was working on back to the berth, shooting Jazz the most venomous look he was capable of. Still, his other leg bounced up and down- a tiny modicum of movement from the otherwise suddenly very formal mech.

“Jazz.”

If his face was even more solemn than usual, Jazz clearly didn’t notice. Instead, he just grinned so brightly up at Ultra Magnus, and before he had a chance to process why that hurt so much, the spy was chirping up at him that the mission went as planned, and as soon as he was released he’d be ready to debrief-

“Jazz.”

That time, at least, his tone seemed to cut through, and Jazz froze, his smile slowly slipping off his face. Even Pharma, who didn’t usually pay much attention to these conversations, paused for a moment to glance up at Magnus, brow furrowing in concern. 

“...Mags. What happened?” And oh, but he hadn’t heard Jazz be that serious since he enlisted in the Elite Guard, when he had broken into Magnus’s office and made him swear that no part of his consideration was to do with Yoketron, that his sensei hadn’t pulled any strings to get him where he was, and how he’d commed Yoketron after to- 

No, this wasn’t the time. Magnus vented in, then out, long and slow, before he spoke to Jazz again. “There was-” he hesitated, sparing a glance at Pharma- “...an attack on Cybertron.” 

Immediately, Jazz’s visor darkened, as he quickly searched through his databases for any Decepticons still on-planet who would be brazen enough for such an attack. Magnus waited a moment, before clearing his throat, Jazz’s visor brightening as he jerked his attention back onto his leader. 

“Where, sir? Based on th’ location I might be able t’ help ya get a list o’ likely ‘Cons-”

“Yoketron’s dojo.” 

Jazz- active, loud, always-moving Jazz- had gone completely still. Even the pede which had been bouncing the whole conversation was frozen, as Jazz just sat and stared up at Ultra Magnus. 

It stretched for a long moment, long enough for Pharma to shoot a concerned look up at the mech's face and reach for an access port, only for a gray servo to push his away and protectively cover it. In a voice full of gravel, visor still locked on Ultra Magnus's face, Jazz spoke- "And my Sensei?" 

He got all the answer he needed in the shuttering of optics and the incline of Ultra Magnus's head, but Jazz needed to hear it. "Yoketron was pronounced dead on scene-" Jazz couldn’t help the little gasp that escaped his vocalizer, cutting Magnus off- “and his apprentice, Prowl, is missing, presumed killed.” 

“Protoforms?”

“Gone.” 

Clawed digits dug harshly into the berth, before Pharma cleared his throat and Jazz let go. Too late- the gouges were already there, and Jazz carefully didn’t look at the medic. 

“Jazz.” Magnus’s voice was gentle. “I know he was-”

“I gotta few leads.” Jazz’s visor was dull, and his voice, so energetic mere moments ago, was flat. “I’ll type them up with my mission report, get ‘em on ya desk as soon as I can.” 

“Jazz,” Magnus tried again, only to be cut off by a sharp shake of Jazz’s helm, gaze turned away. 

“...Later, sir. Please.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @nicknaklmao


End file.
